


At the End of the Day

by Idol_pastimes



Category: EastEnders (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-11
Updated: 2019-12-11
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:46:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21751690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Idol_pastimes/pseuds/Idol_pastimes
Summary: It's not like he'd never been punched before.  It's just... it's the first time someone else really seemed to care that he had been.  And at the end of the day, he reckoned he'd take a bruise or two in exchange for that.
Relationships: Callum "Halfway" Highway/Ben Mitchell
Comments: 7
Kudos: 87





	At the End of the Day

**Author's Note:**

> Well! I wrote this on Sunday following spoiler pics that I’d seen, where I’d assumed that Ben wasn’t going to be involved in the rumble-in-the-cemetery episode… but I guess that’s not going to be the case! Anyway, it struck me that there’s a lot of dialogue in this that’s weirdly close to tonight’s episode, so much so that this may not be worth posting, but I thought it was sweet and that maybe folks wouldn’t mind some softness (even if it's no longer canon-compliant) in the run up to what seems like a traumatic, angst-filled Ballum Christmas. 
> 
> Forgive me for this unmitigated schmoop!

‘You what?’

Callum kept his face down, ignoring the throbbing that seemed to engulf the left side of his head at the pull of gravity. It felt like every drop of blood in his body was forcing its way through the rapidly darkening bruise over his cheekbone and honestly, he didn’t know how Ben put up with this week in and week out; he’d only been punched once in recent memory and he was certain that he’d never be able to go out in public again. His boyfriend seemed to get himself clocked at least once a fortnight and had ever since he’d known him. Maybe he needed to be a little tougher; Ben wouldn’t be cringing away, hiding at home, avoiding people’s knowing eyes-

‘Callum!’

He shook his head and sunk into the sofa cushion, slumping further into himself.

‘That Leo; I knew he was a wrong’un. He had Whit and was dragging her about at the cemetery, he had his hands all over ‘er, Ben, he was hurting her and I-’

He knew he was waving his hand about, knew that’s what he did when he was trying to pull his words into a semblance of order, when he had too many things to say but his stupid mouth wouldn’t work fast enough to let him express all the things that he was thinking, all the things that he needed to say. Callum forcefully jammed his palms face-down under his thighs, pinning his hands in place and clamping his mouth shut. He was trying to drag his thoughts together, to explain why he was even there in the first place, why he was still wrapped up in Whitney’s life even after he’d long since moved on, or at least moved away from that time, that relationship... but then immediately wondering why, why he should feel the need to justify it. Whit was his friend; he loved her and he would never have stood by and just let that scum, that-

‘Callum.’

The softness of Ben’s voice sliced through the tumult of thoughts scrambling around in Callum’s brain and he sucked in a deep breath. He clenched his fingers into fists under his legs and looked up slowly, finally meeting his boyfriend’s eye for the first time since he’d buzzed Ben into the flat. 

He didn’t know what he’d been expecting to find there, on the face that was so expressive yet could be so unreadable, so cold to others yet so open, always, to him. Callum knew the second that Ben’s eyes registered the swelling that he could feel pushing his eye half-closed, watched with guilt and not a little awe at the visceral reaction that rippled across his boyfriend’s face. 

Ben’s jaw clenched and his lips thinned, almost twitching with the struggle to keep whatever instinctive reaction was fighting its way to the surface tamped down. Callum could see the fury in his eyes, though; he’d always been able to read Ben, long before they were an item and he knew that Ben was thinking the same thing. He knew that this response was going against Ben’s more base instincts, that he was holding back from the rage that he was feeling. The fact that his fists were clenched just as tightly as Ben’s almost made Callum laugh; they had so many things in common but came at most situations from completely different standpoints. 

They nearly always met in the middle, though.

He dragged in a deep breath and looked Ben straight in the eye.

‘It’s not as bad as it looks.’

Ben’s mouth twisted as he struggled to hold back an immediate retort; sarcastic, probably, Callum thought. He ran a hand over his hair and dropped his chin again. ‘It does throb, though.’ He opened and closed his jaw, working it around in a circle and rubbing the side of his face, careful not to touch the bruising there. The brief shuffle of a coat dropping onto the arm of the sofa and the sudden arrival of Ben’s grey trousers appearing in his peripheral vision had Callum looking up once more, but the gentle fingers that ran down the right side of his face made his eyes fall closed.

‘I’m sorry, babe.’

The quiet words struck a pang through Callum so poignant that it made him straighten instinctively. The touch of Ben’s fingertips disappeared but he didn’t have the chance to pull away too far before they were engulfed in Callum’s own. 

‘Hey, what do you have to be sorry for? Weren’t like you hit me, was it? And I know I should have said where I was goin’ before running off with Tiff like that, but it was all so last second and-’

Ben’s brow was furrowed with sadness and not a small bit of anger; at himself, too, if Callum had to guess. And with Ben, he usually didn’t have to. 

‘Babe, babe, no- it’s not that. I know you can handle yourself and you’re not going to run everything past me now, are you, every time you want to go running off to save a damsel in distress. But I should’ve known something was off about that guy when you had that run in with him before and I just brushed it off; just made a joke about it. Ain’t many people who’d go to so much trouble to clear out ex-boyfriends before they make their move and let’s face it, it’s not like you were looking to grab Whitney back for yourself, were ya?’

Ben was shaking his head and he gripped Callum’s hand tightly as he sat down on the coffee table, knees touching Callum’s. 

‘I weren’t paying enough attention and look where it’s ended up. Whitney attacked, Tiff in danger and you having to fight a nutter without me knowing anything about it. So much for looking after each other, ey?’

Callum huffed out a laugh and shuffled closer towards Ben, pulling their joined hands up to rest against his right cheek. His voice had dropped to match Ben's, quiet and intimate, as they sat inches apart. ‘It’s hardly your fault, Ben. He’d played Whit right from the start. I’m just glad this is the worst of it. He’s been locked up and we’ve all come out of it unscathed. Well, mostly.’

Ben moved his face forward until their noses bumped and rested his forehead against Callum’s. He shook his head slightly in disagreement but Callum could tell that he’d decided to let it go – for now. 

‘S’not what I’d call unscathed, you div’. You do know I happen to really enjoy looking at this face, don’tcha? And that clown’s gone and damaged it.’

Callum darted forward and pecked a kiss on Ben’s lips. Ben smiled gently and placed a warm, soft palm against the darkening skin across Callum’s cheek, as though he could caress it clear out of existence.

‘Does make you look right tough, though.’

Callum laughed and sneaked another kiss before sitting back, still holding onto Ben’s fingers. ‘That’s all I need at a police interview; looking like I’ve gone ten rounds with Tyson. You got any top tips for healing up faster?’

Ben took a long, pained look at his boyfriend’s face and sighed heavily, but before Callum felt the need to flip the conversation back to a more light-hearted tone, Ben swung himself over to sit beside him. Thigh to thigh, Ben dragged Callum’s arm over his shoulders to retain his grip on his fingers as they hung down in front of his chest. Leaning in closer and propping his head against Callum’s, he shrugged.

‘Steak is supposed to keep the swelling down, but Ian always went mad if I used that out of his fridge, so I stick with peas. Straight out of the freezer, stick ‘em in a tea towel and bung ‘em on there. Only good use I’ve ever had for peas.’

Callum slid further down in the seat so he could sit comfortably with Ben’s head against his own. The height difference between them only really became an issue when they were sitting side by side, and only then because Ben loved to lie all over him. Callum was always happy to accommodate, of course, but he did really need to sort his face out. Now that he was sitting still and was finally calming the buzzing in his mind, his face was beginning to feel tight and achy, but always with that ever-present pulse, like the cells themselves were fighting to rectify the damage done to them.

‘Hmm. Well I ain’t got any of them, so might have to stick to plain old ice in a towel for now. Well, in a minute. I’ll go grab some. In a minute.’

He felt more than saw Ben nod once. He closed his eyes to the almost hypnotic pressure of fingertips running in circles over the thin material covering his sternum. Callum knew that Ben was not even close to being over this. Because of the person his boyfriend was, because of the things he’d been through, he knew that Ben’s brain would be ticking away, thoughts chasing themselves into a knot with what-ifs and shoulda-coulda-wouldas. He knew that he was more laid-back, more a take-it-as-it-comes kind of person, and usually that would balance itself out alongside Ben’s propensity to act first, get punched second. This time, though, more may be needed to resettle the balance.

‘It’s over, anyway. He’s been locked up and Whit’s safe again. It’s done.’

The smooth circles didn’t falter once.

‘Good for him.’

Callum sighed.

‘And I’m fine; you don’t have to go looking for trouble, Ben.’

Circles grew tighter, smaller, drifted down to cover his heart.

‘Ain’t gonna look for it. But if he comes back here, he’s gonna find it.’

Callum hiccupped a laugh and the circles stopped abruptly. Ben’s face popped up directly in his eyeline and Callum smiled at his boyfriend’s disgruntled expression.

‘What’s so funny?’

Callum cupped the back of Ben’s neck and pressed a kiss to his forehead, then his nose, then his mouth. Where Ben’s face pressed against his throbbed with a beat of discomfort but Callum pushed it away and sighed. 

‘You are. And lovely. And protective and surly and everything that I ain’t ever had before. Thank you.’

Now Ben was confused; his face crumpled with bemusement. ‘For what? I’m sitting ‘ere threatening someone; you ain’t normally so happy about that.’

Callum pulled him back under one arm and lay his cheek back against the crown of Ben’s head again, rubbing his face against the hair that he loved to touch.

‘Well, it’s different, innit, when it’s in my honour.’

That garnered the intended response and Callum smiled as Ben let out a huff of a snigger. ‘Your honour? Oh, that’s all it takes, is it Mister Highway? If I’m galloping to your defence I can be as gangster as I like, that it?’ His hand had returned to Callum’s chest and taken up where it had left off and Callum smiled at the unthinking nature of the action. It was quickly becoming one of his most treasured secrets, the fact that Ben liked to touch him just to feel that he was close by, that he would run his fingers down his face, along his arm, interlink their fingers at any given opportunity. It was instinctive and natural and Callum couldn’t believe that it was his.

‘Well, a bloke likes to feel wanted, Mister Mitchell.’

Ben’s fingers tightened in the front of Callum’s shirt and then released again, just as quickly, a heartbeat of possessiveness that did not go unnoticed. Callum pressed his cheek more firmly against his boyfriend’s hair and sighed. Today had been a jumble of emotions: fear, anger, guilt and relief swirling into a tumult of muddled, tiring thoughts. This was all that he could focus on right now. All that he wanted.

He wasn’t joking when he’d said it. Just feeling wanted, the surety that Ben would support him, believe him, stand up for him even when it wasn’t necessary was enough to settle his busy mind. Callum couldn’t fathom what he’d done to deserve it, after everything he’d put Ben through, but he’d never stop being grateful for it. 

‘I’ll always wantcha.’

The quiet admission made Callum smile into Ben’s hair and close his eyes. 

‘Even with your face looking like that.’

Callum’s huff of laughter had him pulling Ben in closer, and shaking his head. Yeah. Snarky, surly and exclusively his. Callum sunk back further, wrapping his arms around Ben’s shoulders, settling them chest to chest. 

Swathed in silence, Ben lifted his face to tap his nose against Callum’s chin.

‘You happy?’

Callum smiled down into the questioning eyes and dipped his head to press a kiss to Ben’s mouth. 

‘Yeah.’

Ben tucked his head back under Callum’s chin but not before Callum had seen the upturned lips, quickly hidden away. He squeezed his boyfriend tighter, tight enough to drown out the throb in his cheek and the panic of the past hours.

‘Yeah, babe. I’m happy.’


End file.
